1. What is the title, rank and position of the Legal Adviser?

(12 September 2016)

The Legal Adviser is in the position of the Director of the Law and International Treaties Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This position is assigned to regular career diplomats and is a subject to the procedures of rotation.

2. What are the principal functions of the OLA?

In accordance with the regulations of the Law and International Treaties Department, the department is primarily responsible, within its competence, for drafting of international treaties and domestic legislation, giving advice and expertise on draft international treaties and domestic legislation drawn up by other departments and divisions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as other ministries and governmental agencies, and settlement of other legal issues relating to its competence.

The Department has the following principal goals: to fulfil, within its competence, the provisions of the program of the Government; to pursue the conformity of obligations under international treaties to the Constitution and the objectives of Lithuanian foreign policy; to control the conformity of domestic legislation to the international law; to participate, within its competence, in developing domestic legislation relating to foreign affairs and security policy; to carry out acts relating to the entry into force, validity and operation of international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania; to ensure continuous collection, processing and updating of information on the international treaties; to participate in settlement of legal issues, relating to the administrative, economic and financial functioning of the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service. Also department usually is involved in the domestic dispute settlement, arising from Labor law, Civil service law, Administrative law when appropriate.

Office of Legal Advisor at Lithuanian MFA does not deal with Human Rights Cases in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. It is a competence of the Office of Government’s Agent under the Ministry of Justice;

It is worth noting that, in practical terms, the Department is responsible for all aspects of legal environment in the Ministry.

3. Please give a brief description of staff employed by the OLA, including overseas staff. What is the distribution of posts between men and women within the OLA and what category of staff do they respectively belong to?

Nominally, there are 19 persons working in the Department, 18 of which are lawyers, mostly regular career diplomats. There is no formally separate lawyers’ assignment procedure abroad.

Nevertheless, according to existing practices diplomats with qualification of law are posted, inter alia, to the Lithuanian Permanent Mission to the UN, Lithuanian Permanent Representation to the Council of Europe and the Lithuanian Permanent Representation to the EU, Mission to the UN Office in Geneva.

4. Are there any specific recruitment and promotion policies, provisions and/or quotas to ensure non-discrimination and equal opportunities, e.g. for the underrepresented sex, for persons with disabilities or for persons belonging to ethnic or religious minorities or of immigrant origin?

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5. Is OLA staff trained on gender equality issues and are these issues mainstreamed into the OLA’s work?

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6. Briefly describe the organisation and structure of the OLA.

The Department consists of two divisions:

– International Treaties Division (matters related to the international law and international treaties, such as: drafting and expertise of international treaties, participation in negotiations;

- organization and supervision of communication with foreign states and international organizations regarding legal and procedural aspects of conclusion of international treaties; acts relating to the entry into force, validity and operation of international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania;

- administration of database of international treaties to which the Republic of Lithuania is a State Party;

- establishment of diplomatic relations; consultations, within its competence, on the implementation of international obligations of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as on general theoretic and practical aspects of the international law; etc.);

- representation of the Ministry at various multilateral forums on issues, related to international law, inter alia EU law;

– Law Division (matters related to domestic legislation and the functioning of the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service, such as: drafting and expertise of domestic legislation, including internal (ministerial) legal acts; administration of certain internal law database;

- providing for expertise of commercial contracts, concluded on behalf of the Ministry or diplomatic missions;

- settlement of other legal issues, relating to their administrative, economic and financial functioning;

- representation of the Ministry in the courts; consultations, within its competence, on the application of domestic legislation; etc.).

Each division is composed of a head, accountable to the Director of the Department, and a similar number of lawyers. While there are some areas within each division in which certain lawyer may specialize, they are expected to be able to take on a variety of legal tasks.

7. What is the OLA’s place within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

Law and International Treaties Department is one of nearly twenty departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its activities are supervised by the Chancellor of the Ministry. In terms of subordination all departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs comprise a “horizontal” line of structural elements. Nevertheless, it is to be mentioned that any document of legal nature, prepared by any of departments or divisions of the Ministry, is a subject for approval by the Law and International Treaties Department.

8. What are the main contacts of the OLA within Government?

The Law and International Treaties Department maintains close contacts with legal and international relations departments and divisions of the Prime Minister’s Office, other ministries and governmental agencies.

9. Please describe the relations of the OLA with lawyers in private practice, academics and legal institutions.

A number of lawyers from the Law and International Treaties Department are involved in the teaching of international law at the Faculty of Law of the Vilnius University and Mykolas Romeris University, attend various seminars and conferences, hold informal contacts with lawyers of private practice.

10. Please provide a brief bibliography on the OLA, if available.

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